Review: Five Nights at Freddy’s
Fans of the acclaimed “Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF)” series have yearned for a movie adaptation for eight years since its announcement in 2015. On Oct. 27, the animatronic film enraptured audiences with inspiration from the series’ first game and novel.
Released in 2014, the indie point-and-click horror-survival game “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has players embody Mike Schmidt, an underpaid security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. During his first week, he watches the monitors and tries to survive five evenings with nightmarish animatronics. Throughout the games, it is revealed that serial killer Willam Afton murdered five kids and stuffed their bodies into the animatronic suits, causing them to become haunted, turning murderous out of revenge. The popularity of the game skyrocketed, spawning eight canon prequel and sequel games, seven spin-off games, 48 books and a ninth mainline game on the way.
In the 2015 “FNaF” movie announcement, Warner Bros. was named the producer. But in 2017, due to creative conflicts, Blumhouse Productions took over. Known for other horror movies such as “M3GAN” and “Get Out,” the film was seemingly in good hands. With multiple directors leaving the project and the scrapping of various scripts, the film’s progress seemed uncertain. Despite obstacles, the “FNaF” movie began filming in February 2023 and ended in April.
When “FNaF” was released, die-hard fans instantly clocked easter eggs and parallels between the movie, games and book series. Similar to the first game, the movie focuses on Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson). Despite being newly introduced to the franchise, his younger sister Abby Schmidt (Piper Rubio) brings a charming on-screen bond. Throughout the story, Vanessa Shelly (Elizabeth Lail), the police officer, helps provide information on the events at Freddy’s. Although her performance is cordial, audiences nitpicked the character’s personality as exposition. Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard), the career counselor, brings a captivating and intriguing performance even with his brief appearances. The “core four” animatronics Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy are enthralling to see in live action and bring a child-like wonder to the film.
Still, the film lacks horror elements, coming off more as an eerie summer camp flick. The lack of scariness was not helped by a fort-building scene with the murderous animatronics. Although the lack of horror holds the film back in establishing a definitive atmosphere, it still provides a fun and interesting experience for new viewers and long-time fans.
The “FNaF” movie has received positive reviews from audiences, but low scores from critics.
Fans praised the film’s soundtrack and the use of practical animatronics made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The main criticism from fans was the age rating of the film. Many wanted the PG-13 rating to be changed to R so that there could be more gore. Despite this gripe, the lower age rating helped the film conquer the box office in its opening weekend, gaining $80 million and breaking several movie records. It was the highest-grossing opening weekend for a Halloween release, and the best debut ever for a PG-13 horror film.
When the second Five Nights at Freddy’s game is adapted to a movie, die-hard fans are sure to grab a seat to witness more of the gang in action.
4/5
